This year, our 4th of July weekend started on a Friday and I wanted to do an activity that was more focused on fun for Aiden rather than just running errands.  Since he really enjoyed watching the fish at Sea World in Florida, I thought the National Aquarium in Baltimore would be a lot of fun for him.



I liked that everything was indoors and it was easy to navigate for an 18 month old.  There were a lot of "wow-wows" at the sharks and lots of pointing at the fish almost as big as him.  Funnily enough, the escalators were probably one of his favorite things in the aquarium.  Each level is connected by an escalator which crosses over the big sea pool on the first level.


 There were a lot of levels and many different types of aquatic life.  It's been a long time since I'd explored the aquarium, but we were all pretty surprised at the other habitat exhibits that we could visit, like the rain forest and Australia.  Aiden was in love with the colorful birds and even the reptiles.

 


The last exhibit we saw was located in the adjoining building and it housed a couple of dolphins and my favorite display, the jellyfish!  I don't know what it is about those floating squishy animals, but seeing them swim around in the water just fascinates me.  Kind of like being mesmerized by a lava lamp.  One of the hands-on displays in the main building actually allowed us to touch live jellyfish which was pretty unique.  I had never experienced that before.
  

This was a very fun trip for the whole family and I can't wait to visit again when Aiden is older!

Did anyone else have fun plans for this past weekend?  Did anyone do something special to celebrate our nation's independence?